A recent study conducted by independent physicians at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Canada found traces of toxic chemicals from genetically modified organisms in 93 percent of pregnant women and in 80 percent of umbilical cords tested.

A recent study conducted by independent physicians at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Canada found traces of toxic chemicals from genetically modified organisms in 93 percent of pregnant women and in 80 percent of umbilical cords tested.

The study’s research team took blood samples from 30 pregnant women and 39 who were not pregnant, looking for pesticide residues commonly found in GMO seeds called Bt toxins. The researchers found traces of Bt toxins in 28 out of 30 pregnant women and in 24 out of 30 umbilical cords. The non-pregnant woman showed residue in 67 percent—27 of the 39 women tested.

“This is the first study to highlight the presence of pesticides associated with genetically modified foods in maternal, fetal and non-pregnant women’s blood,” said the research team in the scientific journal Reproductive Technology. The toxins, which the team claims were clearly detectable and crossed through the placenta to the fetus, are believed to be coming from the pregnant women’s consumption of meat, milk and eggs from animals fed GM corn. The researchers speculate that the damage could be minimal or as severe as allergies, miscarriages, abnormalities or even cancer.

With no regulations on the labeling of genetically modified foods here in the U.S. and rampant use of GM seeds on tens of millions of acres of crops throughout North and South America, it may come as little surprise that the toxins found in these GM seeds designed to kill crop pests are winding up in the wombs of pregnant women and potentially causing severe damage to their developing children.

In a statement from the GM supported Agriculture Biotechnology Council, the group questioned the study’s reliability, saying that the toxins found are widely used in a number of farming and gardening methods with “no harm to human health.” The Council’s spokesperson also stated that GM crops undergo rigorous testing for safety before being made commercially available and that over the past 15 years of their mainstream consumption, there has not been “a single substantiated health issue.”